Bank wins five regional awards including “Middle East’s Best Bank 2025” showcasing a landmark year of strategic expansion, digital leadership and financial performance.
- Winner of three UAE awards including “UAE’s Best Bank”, “UAE’s Best Bank for ESG” and “UAE’s Best Investment Bank for Equity Capital Markets (ECM)”
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye (MENAT) region, is celebrating its success at the Euromoney Middle East Awards for Excellence 2025 with eight new wins.
Surpassing its 2024 performance at the awards, Emirates NBD has won five regional awards including the “Middle East’s Best Bank”. Recording exceptional financial performance in 2024, Emirates NBD announced net profit of AED 23 billion, up 7%, while credit showed standout growth. Emirates NBD’s international operations now account for 31% of total income, reflecting the success of its expansion strategy across the GCC, Asia and Europe.
Emirates NBD was also a pioneer in sustainable finance innovation, winning the titles of “Middle East’s Best Bank for ESG” and “Middle East’s Best ESG Deal 2025”. In 2024, the bank issued the world’s first sustainability-linked loan financing bond aligned with the updated International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and Loan Market Association (LMA) guidelines, raising USD 500 million. Launching its first sustainable fixed deposit, the bank attracted USD 100 million in inflows. Emirates NBD Capital, the global investment bank for Emirates NBD Group, facilitated more than USD 34 billion in sustainable finance during the year – ranking as a top 12 global coordinator of emerging market ESG-labelled bonds.
With an 11% revenue increase from the SME segment, the bank’s performance reflected its deep commitment to entrepreneurship, economic diversification and digital innovation, earning the accolade of “Middle East’s Best Bank for SMEs” at the awards. Digitisation continued to underpin Emirates NBD’s SME strategy. In 2024, approximately 80% of Emirate NBD’s SME accounts were opened digitally, supported by the bank’s end-to-end digital customer onboarding journey.
Emirates NBD also won the award for the “Middle East’s Best Bank for Customer Experience”, having undertaken a comprehensive customer experience transformation over the past 18 months, embedding it across every level of its operations, governance, culture and technology infrastructure, to improve every major customer touchpoint.
In parallel, Emirates NBD achieved resounding success at the national level with three awards for “UAE’s Best Bank”, “UAE’s Best Bank for ESG” and “UAE’s Best Investment Bank for Equity Capital Markets (ECM) 2025”, showcasing asset growth year-on-year of 16% with the bank registering a significant AED 160 billion (USD 43.6 billion) in new loans and maintaining a one-third market share of UAE credit cards. The bank’s investment banking arm, Emirates NBD Capital, dominated UAE IPOs, advising on prominent ECM transactions such as the largest grocery retail IPO in MENA for Lulu Retail and the Spinneys IPO, helping attract strong investor demand from various investor categories. Emirates NBD’s substantial contributions to sustainable finance were exemplified by its mobilisation of over USD 34.3 billion in sustainable finance, placing it among the top global coordinators for emerging market ESG bonds.
Shayne Nelson, Group Chief Executive Officer at Emirates NBD, commented: “We are delighted to win eight awards this year at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence. Emirates NBD continues to perform and transform as one of the UAE’s largest banks and the most profitable financial institution in the region. Through the transition, we endeavour to build deeper connections with our customers by providing immersive experiences. This association, along with our commitment to sustainability, brings deeper loyalty at a time when ESG-centred choices are becoming the norm. As a homegrown financial institution, Emirates NBD prides itself on offering customers unparalleled financial solutions, strengthening our leadership in banking innovation in the country and the region.”
The prestigious recognition at the Euromoney Middle East Award for Excellence 2025 is the latest in a series of accolades received by the bank. Emirates NBD was awarded “Middle East’s Best Bank for SMEs”, “UAE’s Best Bank for SMEs”, “UAE’s Best Bank for Corporates”, and “Middle East’s Best Bank for Wealth Management” at the 2024 edition of the Euromoney Awards for Excellence. The bank was also lauded at the 2024 awards by The Banker, namely ‘Bank of the Year in the UAE 2024’ and ‘Best Private Bank in the UAE’.
About Emirates NBD
Emirates NBD (DFM: Emirates NBD) is a leading banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye) region with a presence in 13 countries, serving over 9 million active customers. As of 31st March 2025, total assets were AED 1 trillion, (equivalent to approx. USD 272 billion). The Group has operations in the UAE, Egypt, India, Türkiye, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Russia and Bahrain and representative offices in China and Indonesia with a total of 839 branches and 4,539 ATMs / SDMs. Emirates NBD is the leading financial services brand in the UAE with a Brand value of USD 4.54 billion.
Emirates NBD Group serves its customers (individuals, businesses, governments, and institutions) and helps them realise their financial objectives through a range of banking products and services including retail banking, corporate and institutional banking, Islamic banking, investment banking, private banking, asset management, global markets and treasury, and brokerage operations. The Group is a key participant in the global digital banking industry with 97% of all financial transactions and requests conducted outside of its branches. The Group also operates Liv, the lifestyle digital bank by Emirates NBD, with close to half a million users, it continues to be the fastest-growing bank in the region.
Emirates NBD contributes to the construction of a sustainable future as an active participant and supporter of the UAE’s main development and sustainability initiatives, including financial wellness and the inclusion of people of determination. Emirates NBD is committed to supporting the UAE’s Year of Sustainability as Principal Banking Partner of COP28 and an early supporter to the Dubai Can sustainability initiative, a city-wide initiative aimed to reduce use of single-use plastic bottled water.
For further information on Emirates NBD, please contact:
Ibrahim Sowaidan
Senior Vice President
Head – Group Corporate Affairs
Emirates NBD
e-mail: ibrahims@emiratesnbd.com
Burson
Dubai, UAE
Email: emiratesnbd@bm.com
